I think it would have been better to install a separate prologue instead of many of the changes designed to benefit new players in the feature pack – this could have been done with a default character for which ever race/class you picked just with option of male or female, and then once completed you can get on to the main game, and design your character properly.
The starter area’s have lost a lot of their epic-ness, and are too easy for experienced players, for example the champion at the Morgan’s Spiral area offered a challenging experience for 1-2 players, now as just a veteran it is a bit disappointing to fight.
Other things don’t make sense for instance you don’t start with underwater gear. You get that at level 8. You aren’t able to be ‘downed’ until 5. And when you are, you only have access to 1 and 4 on the bar.
The first heart events have been pointlessly dumbed down (No more buckets of water or feed bags. You walk up and “tend” each plant, or dance for the cows)
Also the dodging help tutorial still shows up when making new characters, as well as the beginner tool tips on how to move etc, this should be removed after making your first character.
Unlocking skills over levels also does not make sense, it was more fun, and just as easy to unlock them over time instead of over 10 levels. At least before you had chance to slowly get used to a weapon while unlocking the skills through killing mobs etc, now a new player changes weapon for the first time, and has 5 brand new skills to use right away which could confuse them, also not being downed, and then only being downed with 2 skills sounds confusing as well.
I think ANET should have made a special prologue that brand new players had to complete first that dealt with unlocking skills, dodging, using weapons, picking up buckets etc instead of changing the whole game, or at least more of these changes should be locked out once you have leveled a character so your not told how to press WASD or how to change every time you want to restart for example.